Waitsburg-Prescott boys take No. 1 to Spokane after win over Dayton

Zach Bartlow scores 21 points to lead W-P to the District 9 championship and a top seed to the regional tournament.

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Saturday, February 19, 2011

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WALLA WALLA - Zach Bartlow scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half Friday night as Waitsburg-Prescott claimed the Class 2B District 9 boys basketball title with a 69-56 triumph over stubborn Dayton on George Ball Court at Sherwood Center on the Whitman College campus.

W-P improved its season record to 20-1 and will trek to Spokane for a Class 2B regional tournament next weekend as the district's top seed.

"It was a battle," W-P coach T.J. Scott said. "They (the Bulldogs) came to play. I give them all the credit in the world. We don't match up with them real well."

The Bulldogs were 10-10 prior to a winner-to-regional, loser-out game with Asotin Saturday night.

"We're playing harder than we had in the first part of the year," Dayton coach Roy Ramirez said. "We've always been talented.

"Asotin is a good basketball team," Ramirez said. "That's going to be a tough game also."

Saturday's victor will travel to Wenatchee next weekend as the No. 2 seed from District 9.

A handful of W-P players contributed to a 17-14 lead after one quarter by scoring at least two points. Bartlow led the way with five points while T.J. Hofer and Matt Hamilton picked up four apiece.

Dayton's Kroft Sunderland paced all scorers in the period with eight. He was 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Dustin Wooderchak helped Waitsburg-Prescott forge a 33-28 halftime lead with five points in the second quarter.

Garrett Turner, who led the Bulldogs with 17 points in the game, had six in period two.

The Bulldogs kept the game tight by making 14-of-18 free throws in half one.

Bartlow took charge in the third quarter with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. The last of his four 2-point field goals in the period put W-P up 45-37 at the three-minute mark and a trey with one minute on the clock made it a 50-42 game.

Waitsburg-Prescott led 52-43 after three.

"Zach hit big shot after big shot," Scott said.

Dayton twice closed to within three points in the fourth quarter, but could not get over the hump.

W-P put the contest out of reach with nine freebies on 12 final-period tries.

Wooderchak followed Bartlow with 12 points for W-P.

"The real key in the second half was that we moved our feet (on defense)," Scott said.

Sunderland scored 12 points for Dayton and Colton Bickelhaupt chipped in with 11.

"They did a lot of things well," Scott said of the Bulldogs. "They took care of the ball (just nine turnovers) and made free throws (18-of-24 for the game)."

Waitsburg-Prescott dominated the rebounding category by a 57-33 count. Hamilton snared 11 to lead all boarders.

"They outrebounded us, got a lot of second-chance shots, and that's what got us," Ramirez said. "We were right there. We needed to make a couple more shots. We had decent looks, but they just wouldn't go in."